Lead Shortages Coming - How to Make Your Own Ammo

Several months ago I reported that our wise
President is closing down the last lead smelting plant inside the United States
which will put yet another crimp on ammo for civilians and military alike.You may want to begin securing supplies of
lead now as prices will surely rise as many more preppers and sportsmen will
likely step up making their own ammo supply.

What are
cast bullets and how are they used, and why would we do that?

Center fire ammo is composed of 4 elements. A
bullet (the projectile), the primer, the powder and a brass (usually) casing
that hold the other 3 components together. When you shoot a round of center
fire ammo, you use the bullet, primer and the powder. The brass case is
left basically intact, and can be reloaded with the other 3 components quite a
number of times to mitigate the cost of ammo as well as providing ammo that
would be otherwise unavailable. Bullets can be bought, or you can make them
yourself, with the right equipment and skills…

Guest Post:
by TripodXL

This can’t be an encyclopedic instruction
manual for making cast bullets, which will become obvious. There are 4 basic
needs for bullet casting. You need lead, bullet molds, a lead furnace and
casting tools, and sizing/lubricating equipment.

First, by further reading this information,
the user AGREES that this information is used at the user’s own risk and the
user accepts ALL RESPONSIBILITY for engaging in any activity related to this
information. This information is given as general guidelines for the purpose of
discussion and is in no way intend to be complete, all encompassing on the
subject, and is not warranted to be accurate or applicable to all situations of
its’ use. This activity deals with toxic substances, dangerous circumstances
and potentially life threatening consequences. THE USER ACCEPTS ALL
RESPONSIBILITY.

Lead is obtained a number of ways. You can
buy lead from metal suppliers, and this is probably the most expensive way to
obtain it, but may be the only way. You can go to your local tire center and
ask if you can have their discarded wheel weights. You will usually still have
to buy them and you will need to find out what a fair price is. There is a
caveat, depending on where you live. They may have to turn them in to a
recycler by law. If your state is that way you will have to determine how to
get them, or you may just get them at the metal recycler to begin with and not
have to drive around looking for them. This is actually the best way to get
them.

If you get wheel weights they are acceptable
“as is” for bullet alloy. Most folks don’t realize that pure lead makes crappy
bullets as it is too soft (except for muzzle loading) and will cause leading in
firearms. The lead actually builds up in the rifling of a barrel and
causes a significant decrease in accuracy. If you are lucky enough to
have a few tons of leaded drywall around, it is pure lead and will have to be
alloyed, but even wheel weights can benefit from having some other metals added
to it. If you want complete Q/C over your alloy, it would be best to buy it and
mix it or buy a standard alloy. If you are going to cast bullets, I would
suggest that you get a Lyman “Cast Bullet Handbook”. The current edition is the
4th and is not as good as earlier editions.

Bullet molds are the next thing you need. You
will have to decide, if you are going to shoot them from a handgun or a rifle,
are they going to be hot magnum loads or more of a “standard” velocity for
practice?

There are two kinds of molds, aluminum
and cast iron. Both have their place and you have to use both to learn the
differences. Aluminum is cheaper, and easier to tear up, but it is easier to
start casting good bullets with. Iron is more durable but it is a PITA to keep
the temps right and cast good bullets with. Lee makes aluminum molds that
are cheap and are good starter molds and if you tear one up you don’t have
$100+ invested in it. Learn on them before you buy higher quality, higher
priced molds. RCBS, Lyman and other companies make great iron molds. NEI (North
East Industrial) makes the best aluminum molds of a higher quality than any
other I have tried. I have 6 and I like them. They are not like the Lee
molds. They are harder and more durable than Lee, so don’t use them as a
guideline for not using aluminum molds.

You need one or two bullet designs and stick
to them after you get your learning curve down. Buy “gang molds” where you cast
2,4,6 or more bullets with one pour. A four gang mold won’t cost much more than
half again as a single cavity mold and quadruple your casting rate. If you are
shooting, slow to moderate velocity handguns, straight wheel weights will be
hard enough. For magnum speed handgun loads you will need a harder alloy, which
will require some added tin and antimony (you’ll figure it out).

Rifles
and really high-speed loads will require the very hardest alloy with something
called a gas check pressed onto the base of the bullet. The bullet is cast with
a step at the base and a round copper “cup” is pressed onto the base (like a
scraper) so that the higher speeds won’t lead the bore of the firearm. There
are speed limitations of about 2200 fps for gas-checked lead rifle bullets. You
can’t duplicate full speed rifle loads, and lead bullets should not be used in
semi-automatic rifles.

You will need equipment to melt and alloy the
lead. Electric furnaces that you can buy have heat controls on them, or you can
find an old, HEAVY, IRON dutch oven and use a good propane burner and melt the
lead/alloy that way. DON’T EVER USE THE DUTCH OVEN FOR FOOD. Make sure you have
good ventilation if you are inside and using a furnace. If you are using the LP
burner method, you can be under a roof, if high enough, BUT DON’T DO IT IN AN
ENCLOSED SPACE. I recommend doing it under cover as molten lead and liquids don’t
get along and while it might not rain a big gob of bird crap will cause quite
an explosion (how do I know that).

Regardless of which method you use (I use
both, I use the dutch oven to feed my electric furnaces) you should have an
accurate lead thermometer because the casting temp is crucial to getting good
bullets.

You will need some special equipment for
processing your bullets. Cast bullets are slightly oversized, so you have to
“size” them by pressing them through a “sizer die”. You can buy a cheap little
punch and a sizer die, and tap them through with a hammer. In the beginning,
this is what I recommend for learning and it won’t cost much. Then you
need to lube the bullets to prevent leading. When I started, I would size them
in my little cheap sizer, then put all my bullets in a flat pie tin and pour
melted bullet lube into the pan up to the lube grooves of the bullets. After it
hardened I would cut them out with a little tool called a “cake cutter” and
have bullets ready to go. When you have decided that you want to do this at a
higher level that is quicker and more efficient you can buy a “lubri-sizer”
which is a press that pushes the bullets through a size die and lubes it at the
same time and they fall out the bottom into your bullet bucket, as fast as you
can put them in.

As you can see this isn’t just a cookbook
type skill. Good bullet casting is more of an art, but not too hard to learn. I
learned it out of a book and taught myself, forty years ago. I have taught it
to many others so they didn’t have to learn it the hard way, but you can learn
it yourself if there are no mentors around. Use the proper PPE (gloves, eye
protection, shop apron, etc.) when working with any of this at any stage. Also,
do not eat or drink while engaging in any of this activity.

As you can see this only popped the lid off
this topic but bullet casting and reloading can save you money through sweat
equity and allow you control over a lot of your ammo destiny.

64 "Fabulous" Freebies

Here is Kiplinger's annual list of "fabulous freebies." Some are more
"fabulous" than others, however. We apologize for having to view this
list in slideshow format -- that is the only way they offer it.

Dig a vertical column 1 foot deep by 1 foot wide.Move 18” upward and carve a 6x6 inch air vent
diagonally to connect at the base of the large hole.As the hot air escapes the main hole it draws
air through the other end of the tunnel.This constant cycle of air makes the fire hotter and saves on wood.

RAISE YOUR OWN EDIBLE
CRICKETS

For those interested in harvesting a food supply within a
small space, you might consider the protein packed cricket.Learn how to breed and raise them yourself
at:

2 comments:

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